Microsoft Store on eBay

Microsoft today announced another expansion of its retail store efforts, this time to the popular e-shopping site eBay. The new Microsoft Store on eBay is open for customers in the United States, providing eBay's 124 million active users with access to the firm's first-party hardware and software.

"We are excited to work with eBay to help expand our retail footprint and give even more customers another complimentary, convenient and safe online shopping destination to purchase their favorite Microsoft first-party products, just in time for the busy holiday shopping season," Microsoft vice president Kevin Eagan notes in a new post to the Official Microsoft Blog.

While it's not clear exactly what's different between the standalone Microsoft Store online and the eBay version, Microsoft notes that both offer the same free ground shipping, return policies, and even access to refurbished Surface tablets and other devices.

In addition to its online storefronts, Microsoft now offers 81 full and specialty retail stores and as I first revealed earlier this year, it's now got numerous store-within-a-store locations at Best Buy and other electronics retailers around the world.

Yet another way to screw over partner resellers that are continuing to get the shaft on channel sales of new devices.

This is one area where Microsoft is trying to do what Apple does, but is killing business in the process. Apple decided to kill off smaller resellers awhile back by upping MOQ requirements to stratospheric levels. Now the only shoppes that carry Apple products are Apple, and major big box stores (which Apple would rather not deal with, but can't ignore the traffic).

Last time I looked, Microsoft's main business comes from partner resellers that sell as VAR's and LAR's, and yet none of those partners have access to Microsoft's hardware through the channel. Partner resellers only have access to the "services" part of "devices+services". Someone needs to get fired for this strategy, because it's only going to end up with another huge write-down of unsold product. Microsoft either needs to honestly compete with their OEM partners to spur competition, or STFU with their wasted marketing that the few big box stores that ARE authorized to carry their hardware aren't utilizing, and GTFO of the hardware business.

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